Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Photography by Mark J. McCourt, and courtesy Ron Morehead Jr.
Lincoln
Morehead, Sr., established Morehead Auto Sales in 1946, and took on a
Volvo franchise in the late 1950s. Mr. Morehead added the Honda car line
in 1974, and sold both marques out of his famous “windmill” building in
Middlehope, New York, until giving up the Volvo franchise in 1998; they specialize in Honda today.
For
various reasons, Mr. Morehead ended up hanging on to three brand-new,
end-of-run Volvo models that the family would keep for decades. Longtime
readers of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car will remember their 1981 Bertone Coupé,
a 36-mile car whose full leather seats were still wearing the plastic
wrappings installed at the factory for shipment. This car was sold
overseas in 2007, and most recently appeared on the Volvo Cars Heritage stand as part of a special Bertone Volvo display at the 2015 Techno Classica Essen classic car event in Germany. It’s currently owned by a Dutch Volvo specialist, and shows 62 miles on the odometer. Also sold in 2007 was an 80-mile 1967 122S wagon, which the family held onto after repaired shipping damage rendered it unsellable. This car was soon purchased by Automobile magazine columnist Jamie Kitman –his parents bought an identical model new in 1966–
and he’s put more than 4,000 miles on it since. The last original,
never-sold Volvo is now in the process of being recommissioned.
Back story: I remember Mr. Morehead and his son Ronnie telling me about this 1965 PV544,
while I was photographing the Bertone in 2006. It had been traded to
them by another Volvo dealer, and would be the last PV that the
dealership had in stock. In the mid-late 1960s, the car’s 20-year-old
design (dating back to the PV444, first shown in 1944!) and price (close to that of the larger and more sophisticated 122)
made it a tough sell. This car sat in the showroom until 1968, when Mr.
Morehead filled its trunk with spare trim parts and the remaining 544
showroom display paraphernalia, and tucked it away in his home garage,
under blankets.
The
544 would remain in the home garage, sharing space with Mr. Morehead’s
daily drivers, up to last month, when Ronnie and his sons Ron Jr. and
Lincoln pulled it out and got it running again.
Years
ago, this car incurred some damage in the form of shattered rear
glass when a burglar broke into the family house via a garage window
directly above the back of this car; a genuine replacement window was
purchased at that time, but wasn’t installed until just after these
photos were taken.
This
garage storage meant the car’s undercarriage and engine bay were
exposed to the moisture brought in by the daily drivers, so there’s some
surface corrosion on the original components’ surfaces. Still, it’s
refreshing to see exactly how these cars were when new and untouched,
and this example is very likely the most original, lowest-mileage -4.5
miles!- example outside of the final PV544 that lives in the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg.(Yes, that’s the oil filter this car left the factory with in 1965. And yes, the miles are genuine!)
It
was delightful to watch this car start instantly at the twist of the
key, and after adjusting the choke, to hear its perfectly smooth idle.
Ron Jr. drove the car next door from the showroom in which it once sat
so I could take these photos, and he said this will probably be as far
as the car goes under its own power, for some time, in consideration of
the 50-year-old Firestone tires.
The
Morehead family is considering its options for the “NOS” PV544, and has
mentioned the possibility of ultimately finding the car a new home,
once it’s fully sorted. To see more of this unusual Volvo’s intriguing
details, click the thumbnails below to enlarge.

image: http://barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/1959-El-Camino-630x420.jpgLike some 115 other people, I've been watching this 1959 El Camino here on eBay
for quite a while. It has a great look to it, although I'm a bit
nervous about the rust. Five thousand dollars seems like a decent deal
for a first year V8 powered El Camino, but it appears no one is quite
willing to take the plunge and hit the Buy It Now button. If the engine
were complete and running, I have a feeling this one would have sold a
long time ago. The seller does give the option to make an offer, so
perhaps they would be willing to drop the price a could thousand. If the
engine is free, it shouldn't be hard to find parts for and get running,
but that's a big if. I would want to inspect this one carefully before
spending much on it, as the rust could be a serious issue. So would you
leave this truck with its original "patina" or would you give it a
proper paint job?Source: barnfinds.com

Photos courtesy California Automobile Museum, except where noted.
It
might seem contradictory to coop up a bunch of old travel trailers in
one place for half a year; after all, they were built to wander the
highways and byways, to explore the countryside and to escape the
constraints of the indoors. But, hey, the camping off-season’s coming up
for most of the country, and besides, they’ll make a great exhibit for
the California Automobile Museum.
“The exhibit came about because
of the cross-section of two important things: Vintage trailers are very
trendy right now, and the Sacramento area has a strong presence of
vintage trailers,” said Carly Starr, the museum’s curator. “For example,
a local collector is providing some early examples of production
trailers which we are lucky and excited to have. Furthermore, Vintage Camper Trailers magazine and website is owned and managed by Sacramento locals and they have supported this exhibit from the beginning.”
Travel
trailers date back to well before the invention of the automobile—think
of the Conestoga wagons that took settlers further and further into the
West or the horse-drawn vardos of the gypsies across Europe—but with
the advent of the automobile they began to grow in size and take on more
of the comforts of home, including self-contained bathrooms, integrated
kitchens, and electricity.
The travel trailers in the Camping in Style: Little Homes on Wheels
exhibit date from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and include a wide range
of styles, from the 18-1/2-foot aluminum 1936 Bowlus Deluxe Road Chief
at the top of this article to the tiny 1950 KampMaster “stand-up”
teardrop-style trailer above. Other trailers slated to take part in the
exhibit include a 1959 Shasta Airflyte and matching 1956 Chevy Bel Air
station wagon, a 1948 Vagabond, a 1960 Ideal Trailer, a 1950s Airstream,
a 1936 Luxury Liner, a 1947 kit teardrop, a 1956 teardrop barn find, a
1946 Curtis Wright Model 2, and a 1955 Aljoa Sportsman.Photo courtesy Harley-Davidson Museum.
Among the trailers, the exhibit will include one vintage motorhome, a Brooks Stevens-designed Clipper that had previously been shown at Milwaukee’s Harley-Davidson Museum.

The Camping in Style: Little Homes on Wheels exhibit will take place October 31 through April 10 of next year, with a sneak preview party —featuring camp food—scheduled for October 30. For more information, visit CalAutoMuseum.org.

It's what's inside that counts, right? This 1953 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country Station Wagon listed here on craigslist and
parked in Frederick, Colorado and is priced at $10,800 and the inside
has a lot going for it. According to the owner this is a 5 door wagon
(series C56-1) and supposedly there were only 1,242 produced.

How
about this wood and stainless steel? It looks absolutely fantastic with
this combination, let's just hope everything is still here!

Here
is the 331 hemi V8 mated to an automatic 4 Speed Fluid-Matic which has a
“Safety Clutch” feature, which is similar to a torque limiter. The car
is said to be running and driving with new master cylinder, brakes,
clutch, fuel pump, ball joints up front, battery and a new set of Cooper
tires.

The
car has the original paint, we don't know the color code. You could get
away with leaving it as is, but wouldn't it look great with some new
paint?

Here you have NOS carpet, seat covers, new headliner and the original Wagon-Radio is said to work.Included
with this purchase is an original Chrysler shop manual, sales brochure,
extra power steering unit, grill, stainless trim, generators and a few
other parts. The owner says that this car has rock solid floors, body, rockers, etc.
We have seen restored units go for as much as $50K. What are your
thoughts, paint and re-chrome, or just keep her as a big cool grocery
getter?Source: barnfinds.com